Gymbacks Host Bulldogs for Senior Night at Barnhill

The Arkansas gymnastics team returns home on Friday, Feb. 25 for what will be the last home meet of the season and last-ever for some of the Razorbacks.

Arkansas takes on Georgia at 7:45 p.m. on Friday, and the team will send off its seven seniors: Maggie O’Hara, Sarah Shaffer, Amanda Elswick, Kennedy Hambrick, Abby Johnston, Bailey Lovett and Savannah Pennese with a postmeet celebration.

That includes O’Hara and Shaffer, who returned to Arkansas for their sixth and final seasons this year and will have their final bow at Barnhill.

“I can’t say enough good things about both of them,” head coach Jordyn Wieber said. “Maggie having transferred and coming here and being a light and a leader for this program, just so proud of her and grateful that she decided to come to Arkansas. And then a completely different scenario with Sarah Shaffer, who has been here for six years and has truly left her mark and her legacy on Arkansas gymnastics. I just can’t wait to see her compete in Barnhill one last time … I know it’s going to be an emotional one and a special one for all seven of those seniors.”

Arkansas went from a longer recovery period from a Friday to a Sunday meet last week to a shorter one with Sunday to Friday in preparation for Georgia.

The Gymbacks are building on a solid outing against LSU and Mizzou and will use that momentum to post another good score and hopefully the team’s first SEC win after what has been a challenging first half of the season from COVID protocols to weather issues.

“We’ve just put one foot in front of the other and I’m really proud of that.  We’ve some really awesome moments so far this season, but by no means have we hit our potential or our peak yet,” Wieber said. “I’m feeling really good about what we did last week at Missouri. Obviously it’s not fun to lose to two SEC teams, but at the same time, we took a lot of steps forward from the previous week. We were a lot more consistent, we need to start a little bit better on no matter what event it is we’re starting on, but a lot of great moments from that meet and then we got back in the gym this week and the team was excited, they’re excited about Senior Night, and it’s going to be a good meet on Friday.”

Both Arkansas and Georgia are currently winless in the SEC, and are both coming off of losses last week, Arkansas to Mizzou and LSU and Georgia to Auburn. With just two road meets under their belt, the Gymbacks are not yet eligible for an NQS score and thus not ranked this week. However, Arkansas still has an edge over Georgia in season averages when it comes to bars (49.946), beam (49.133), floor (49.267) and overall with an average score of 196.442 to the Bulldogs’ 195.717.

Friday’s meet will be the 44th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and the Gymbacks, dating back to 2003. While the Hogs only have six wins ever against Georgia (6-36-1), four of those have come in the last four years and Arkansas is 4-4 since 2018. The 2021 meeting between the teams was especially sweet for the Gymbacks, who got their first-ever victory in Athens.

Friday’s meet will be broadcast live on SEC Network. Team intros will begin at 7:45 p.m., with coverage at 8:00 and first vault at 8:05. Live stats will be provided, and tickets are still available HERE.

Last Time Out
The Gymbacks competed in their second road meet of the season on Feb. 20 and also set a new season road high with a final score of 196.800 against No. 11 Missouri and No. 5 LSU. While both sets of Tigers came out ahead of the Hogs, Arkansas still outscored its season average of 196.370 by nearly half a point. The Hogs also posted a 49+ on all events for the third time this season and their second-highest event scores on bars (49.350) and beam (49.325).

Up Next
Arkansas finishes its SEC dual slate with a meet against Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Friday, March 4 at 7 p.m. The Gymbacks then travel north to Huntsville for Elevate the Stage with Alabama, Auburn and Georgia on Sunday, March 6 at 1 p.m. at Propst Arena.

Visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com for the latest information on all things Arkansas Gymnastics. You can also find the Razorbacks on social media by liking us on Facebook (Arkansas Razorback Gymnastics) and following us on Twitter and Instagram (@RazorbackGym).